Hunting the Night
by Valeria Aurelia
Summary: AU! For their whole lives, Ace, Sabo, and Luffy have lived in hiding from the awful government that engulfs their country. But when Ace gets a new job to hunt down a man named Teach, they are forced to leave all of that behind. Will they be able to live a normal life? Will Luffy make friends? Or will they be forced to go into hiding once again?


**Okay! Here's the long awaited fanfiction, 'Hunting the Night'! I have eagerly awaiting the moment to publish this and now it's finally here! **

**This is an ASL fanfiction that has (WARNING!) _a lot_ of OOCness in it. ****Ace's OOC****, Sabo's OOC, **_**LUFFY'S OOC**_**_!_ And I will mention that I have another one in mind, but that won't come for a while.**

**Also, if y'all didn't know, 'WHERE'S MY LITTLE BRO!' was the preview, so if you want to read that. But if you don't read it, it won't give away anything nor is it very important to the plot _at all_. It was just a fun little preview to get y'all hyped. **

**DISCLAIMER! All the wonderful, beautiful characters belong to our beloved teacher, master, and _god_, Oda-sensei!**

**DISCLAIMER! The beautiful picture was snap-shot from another website, where it was shared from an another wonderful artist. I will never in a million years claim it as my own. All I did was type 'Hunting the Night' on it.**

**Alrigh'! Now on with the story, shall we?**

* * *

In a country that is not known to us, and in a... state?... that's also not known to us, there is a large city called Goa. Our story begins in the 'University of Goa' where a certain History class houses a certain man.

"The pirate Olivier Levasseur was executed the 7th of July, 1730," The teacher in the front on the lecture hall announced. "He was nicknamed _'__La Buse_', which means 'The Buzzard' in French, and also _'La Bouche'_, which means 'The Mouth'. He was called these names because he was known for his speed and the ruthlessness towards his enemies."

The History teacher's class jotted down notes with great speed as they listened to his 'boring' lecture. "He became a naval officer in the beginning after getting a wonderful education. But after fighting in 'War of the Spanish Succession' and being ordered to return home, he joined Benjamin Hornigold's pirate company in 1716. And then he started looting, blah, blah, blah, all this boring stuff happens, _until_!"

The teacher's loud and slightly unexpected outburst made all of his students glance up at him, for this was supposed to be an environment of seriousness. "Olivier Levasseur supposedly, right before he was about to be hanged, threw a necklace into the crowd that contained a cryptogram of 17 lines. As he threw it, he exclaimed, 'Find my treasure, those of you who may understand!'."

Suddenly, there was a loud, excited gasp from the back of the class. The gasp had come from a man with bright, curly, blond hair, and a white dress shirt and black vest. He then started to chuckle with a creepy sound as his eye twitched and wrote frantically with his "special" pen.

"Sabo," A man next to him said. "You're being weird again."

Sabo looked up at him and whispered, "I'm not being weird! I'm just taking notes for my book! I just got a really good idea, too! I'm gonna make it that, in my book, it starts out with a man about to be executed, but before he dies, he says-"

"Sabo," The other man leaned in towards him. "I don't care."

Sabo's bright smile vanished as the man rolled his eyes at his notes and continued jotting things down. "In 1923, a woman named Rose found strange carvings on a rock. The carvings were that of a dog, snake, two joined hearts, a staring eye, a keyhole, a turtle, a-" Sabo heard his History teacher continue. And though the new information intrigued him, he did not feel obligated to record them into his notes with his special pen.

He grabbed the cap of his magical blue pen and was about to cap it, when a man ran into the room and whispered something into his ear. Sabo's eyes started to slowly lower into a deep scowl. He then suddenly jumped up, throwing his pen onto his desk as he roared, "DAMN IT, ACE!"

The room went silent. "Uh..." Sabo mumbled.

"Mr. Outlook, I would like to ask you to leave my class immediately before further consequences are necessary." The teacher demanded.

"Yeah, yeah!" Sabo grunted as he grabbed his black trench coat and put on his black fedora. "I'm goin', I'm goin'!" And with that he stomped to the doorway, but not without turning to the class and huffing a, "Good _day_!" before leaving.

* * *

"What! We're _moving_?" Luffy exclaimed as he stopped from helping his brothers stuff all of their clothes into three suite cases.

"Yeah," Ace replied.

"W-Why?" Luffy's eyebrow's furrowed in angry confusion.

"We already talked about this Luffy," Ace said. "I've gotten a job from Pops- Edward Negate. He told me we're going after a very dangerous man named Marshall D. Teach."

"But why do we have to _move_?" Luffy asked again.

"Luffy, I know this is hard for you, having to leave all of your friends from school-" Ace began.

"I don't go to school."

Ace gasped. "You _don't_?"

"You didn't know that?" Sabo stopped folding one of Ace's red tank tops to look and scowl at him.

"Sabo!" Ace grabbed Sabo's shoulders. "We're terrible brothers!"

"Well, I don't know about me, but you sure are," Sabo said. "What hole have you been living i-"

"Luffy! It's decided! Sabo and I have come to a compromise!" Ace declared.

"When did that happen!" Sabo snapped.

"You're going to school!" Ace finished.

There was a long pause. "Ace, do know how much money we have?" Sabo then pointed out.

"Sabo," Ace laughed. "Look at our house! It's beautiful!"

"Okay, one, it's just a normal, boring house. And two, my job provided it for us." Sabo explained.

"Oh right. But still! You're going to school no matter what!"

"I am?" Luffy gasped.

"Ace! You have to think about this!" Sabo jumped in front of Ace as he tried to reason with him. "Like I had said earlier, we don't have the money to pay for Luffy's education right now! And also, he's _never_ gone to school! _Ever_!"

"Yeah, so? That's whole reason why he needs to go!" Ace said.

"No! He just turned _17_!"

"Yeah, so?"

Sabo rubbed his forehead with his fingers. "Ugh, why are you so thick-headed? He would be going in to 12th grade right now. But he's never even gone to _kindergarten_ before. Do you realize how tough it would be for him to catch up with everyone else? Do you _realize_ how _stupid_ he would look!"

"Oh~...!" Ace said quietly as his eyebrows furrowed. "Why didn't he go to kindergarten?"

"Ace! Are you serious! Our entire job is going against the government! The government runs schools!"

"Why in the hell are they everywhere!"

"Guys!" Luffy suddenly screamed through their obnoxious outbursts. They then all looked at him. "I... I kind of want to go to school now."

Sabo and Ace's eyes widened in shock. "Wh-What was that?"

"I want to go to school."

"Why would you want to do that!" Sabo asked.

"Y-Yeah! What he said!"

"I've never had a real friend before, besides you two. And I don't want to lose the chance of getting out there and actually, at least glancing at, what it feels and looks like to be normal!"

"NORMAL?" Luffy's two brothers gasped as they both fell onto his bed then scrambling behind it.

"Why would you want to be _normal_?" Ace asked like 'normal' was some sort of word that meant you were some kind of monster.

"Because I don't know what it's like!" Luffy yelled. "All of my life we've been living in a _shell_ made by the Revolutionaries, that was supposed to 'protect' us from the Government! We've never even gone to the _grocery store_! We own extremely tinted windows just so no one will see our faces! You think going to school would be dangerous? I get chased every week by Government agents because I don't have an identity! I don't _exist_, dammit! I want to have a name for once! I want to go up to someone and tell them my name without them saying, 'Huh! I've never actually recalled you _existing_!'"

Sabo then stood to his feet. "I see... Alright. I'll make a deal with you."

"Okay, what's that?" Luffy asked.

"If you promise to never complain about our apartment, get lots of good friends, and get good grades in school, no matter how hard the classes are; I promise that we'll become regular people. Well, besides the fact that Ace and I will have weird jobs." Sabo stated.

Luffy's face then lit up. "Yes...! Yes! Yes! Yes! I promise! I do! Oh, thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" He screamed with joy as he danced and jumped all over the room. Suddenly, Luffy froze. "You promise?"

"Of course! When have we ever broken a promise?" Sabo asked.

"Oh, I don't know. Let's just give one example, shall we? How about, when we were gonna buy a cat." Luffy pointed out.

"Oh right~!" Ace laughed. "I totally forgot about Ol' Broken Bones!"

"Ol' Broken-What?" Sabo asked.

* * *

_Ace, Sabo, and Luffy were all at a pet store. Ace and Luffy were all looking at the kittens as Sabo was talking to a man behind the counter about how they were gonna buy it for Luffy's birthday. Then, all of the sudden, there was a loud, painful, "Merow~!"_

_"Ooh..." Ace whispered as he held a cat in his arms and Luffy cried his eyes out. _

_Sabo just stared at the man behind the counter with a deep scowl. He then got his wallet and started to shuffle through his money. "So that'll be a hundred or so?"_

_"A thousand." stated the man with a very mad tone. _

_Sabo then looked up at the man with massive, wide eyes as he shrunk into his clothes, making the appearance of a turtle. _

* * *

"Oh right~! That day _sucked_!" Sabo snapped. "Not only did we have an identity for a _short_ amount of time, but we also lost _all_ of our money to pay for a dead cat."

"No!" Ace said. "It wasn't a dead cat! It was a dead _kitten_!"

"That makes it even sadder!" Sabo snapped as tears started to form in his eyes. "You _murderer_...!"

"Eh?" Ace growled. "Who you callin' a murderer!"

So the brothers kept on packing, until they were all ready and had everything already in Ace's black truck with flames on the front. Ace went over to the drivers seat and opened the door. Suddenly, Sabo ran up to him, calling, "Ah! Ace, no! Don't get in that seat, please!"

Ace turned around to him. "What do you mean? This is the driver's seat."

"Yeah, I know," Sabo now stood in front of him. "I don't want you to drive."

"What! Why not!"

"Because I'm scared for my safety."

"What do you mean!"

"You love to go fast, Ace. Even on the _mountains_! It freaks everyone out."

"No it doesn't! It's fun!" Ace then turned to Luffy, who was putting his backpack in the back seat. "Right, little bro?"

"Huh, what?" Luffy asked as he looked up at them.

"Does my driving freak everyone out?"

"No, just Sabo." Luffy answered bluntly. "I think it's fun."

"Both of you are maniacs!" Sabo snapped. And before he knew it, they were in their car and driving out of their driveway.

Luffy had his head on the window as he watched his beloved house leave his sight for the last time. He slowly waved his hand at the window as he watched his street leave his eyes and said, "Goodbye, Fushia."

"Don't say goodbye, Luffy!" Sabo said as he turned around to him from the passenger's seat.

"What? What do you mean?" Luffy asked.

"You never say goodbye to anything!" Sabo smiled. "Because once something leaves, a new, better thing comes. So don't ever say goodbye, Luffy! Just say hello to a new life!"

Luffy smiled sadly, looked out his window and said, "Then, hello adventure!"

* * *

**And thus begins a great big adventure that we'll all embark on together! **

**How'd y'all like it? I loved it! And I can't wait for the next chapter! But I probably finish '_Animus' _first. This is my favorite story of all time that I might ever write. I mean, I _love '__Animus'_, but I love this one a lot more.  
**

**VALETE! **


End file.
